KALAMAZOO — For a hockey season that started so optimistically, Western Michigan University limped to the end, losing the best-of-three first-round playoff series in two straight against the Alaska Nanooks over the weekend.

The team left Fairbanks at 10:15 p.m. (ET) Sunday and isn’t scheduled to be back in Kalamazoo until 8 p.m. today.

The Broncos started the season in October with two series sweeps and a 4-0 record, defeating non-league foes Mercyhurst and Alabama-Huntsville.

Even after the next four games, two losses in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association to Michigan State and two wins against Lake Superior Staten (one was in a shootout), the Broncos were technically 6-2.

Then the blades fell off the sticks and the pucks just didn’t go into the nets.

The playoff series against the Nanooks is a perfect example. In two games, the Broncos generated just one goal on 44 shots.

The Nanooks won 4-0 and 4-1, firing a two-game total of 84 shots at Broncos goalie Riley Gill.

Offense, offense, offense.

“The big thing with our group this year, we just had difficulty scoring goals,” WMU coach Jim Culhane said. “That dictated a lot of those results.

“A goal here and there on any given night, and it’s a win.”

That was an understatement.

In 36 games, including the playoffs, the Broncos had just 10 wins and one outright tie.Of those 25 losses, 16 were by one goal — and that includes two-goal losses when the final tally was into an open net plus the five shootout losses.

To take it a step further — the Broncos averaged 2.2 goals per game and gave up 2.8. The third period was their downfall. Western scored 25 goals in the third, but gave up 40.

If it weren’t for the goalies — senior Riley Gill and junior Jerry Kuhn, although Gill started 28 of the games — the losses would have been much more lopsided.

“Riley was exceptional all year,” Culhane said. “He had a great career with us and a great senior year.

“I put him right up there with (former WMU goalies) Glenn Healy, Billy Horn and Marc Magliarditi.”

The problem wasn’t with the defense, in spite of just two seniors and four freshmen seeing the most action on the blue line.

Senior Tyler Ludwig contributed offensively with three goals and 10 assists, tying him with freshman winger Trevor Elias for fifth in team scoring.

Senior Jordan Collins, a stay-at-home defenseman, led the team with a plus-7 rating.Sophomore winger Greg Squires led the team in scoring with 23 points (4 goals) while sophomore winger J.J Crew and senior center Jared Katz led the team with eight goals each.

The Broncos lose just six seniors, but they all went through their collegiate careers without making that prestigious trip to Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena for the CCHA semifinals.

The dismal season also cost Culhane his coaching job after 11 seasons of leading the Broncos, although he’ll remain at the university in a role outside hockey.

“I need some time to decompress,” Culhane said. “I’m looking forward to some family time. There are a lot of emotions.

“As challenging as the year was, a big thing, looking back as a coach, and not only this season, is the relationships with the players, coaches and support staff.”